This is a story about what must be one of the most unlucky people ever. This is a guy that moved to the states because he was bullied at his school in Oslo. In 2002 he studied in Chicago. He was assaulted by two people while jogging, and in September the same year his school kicked him out because he might be a terrorist. He sued the school so that he might continue his studies elsewhere.

He has spent the last seven months in Navajo County Jail, mostly isolated, with handcuffs and foot chains, convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The weapon: His moms rental car.

On Saturday 24th of September last year, John and his mother were driving from Los Angeles to Chicago in John´s Volvo. His mother was driving, when a warning light comes on indicating something is wrong with a tire. She decided to exit at the first opportunity, Winslow, Arizona. However something is wrong with the steering and they crash in the central reserve.

They are taken for a check-up at Winslow hospital, then they need a rental car. A taxi driver took them to Flagstaff where they could pick up a rental car, then they headed back to Winslow to get their belongings. On this day, the annual music festival was going on in Winslow. John mistakenly turns into Winslow´s 2. street going the wrong way down the one way street full of people enjoying the festivities. John drives slowly but some people still hurl abuse and make threatening gestures towards the car.

When he tried to turn into the Auto Shop where his Volvo was towed, a crowd surrounded the car and his mother panicked and told him to get out of there. He backed up against a curb and got a flat tire. He stopped a few meters away from a hot dog stand. There is a woman and her kids inside the hot dog stand, the car never made any contact with them or the stand. Many of the witnessess thinks this is deadly dangerous driving. They drive around the block, enter 2. street the right way and stop. The car is surrounded by people. Michael Mendoza, saw what happened from his store and had chased the car around the block thinking John had attemted to kill his wife and children. John has the window rolled down and is reciving verbal abuse when Mendoza shows up and punches John in the face, spewing blood all over the steeringwheel, breaking his nose.

He panicks, hits the gas, turns in the street and leaves as fast he can. During this maneuver one woman surrounding his car has her toe run over, another woman was scratched as she jumped away from the car. Those are the only injuries.

John calls 911. Right after this, at least 10 police officers show up with their weapons drawn. Both his mom and John is arrested. John has not been released since.

It turns out that the angry witnesses are all related or friends. His lawyer Criss Candelaria, a former DA of 22 years, calls it a scandal. The honrary consul of Norway to Phoenix, Professor George Olander at State University of Arizona says the case is shameful for the United States, and that a ticket for reckless driving would have been enough.

Tomorrow he will recieve his sentencing, a minimum of five years.Found guilty for aggregated assault, his weapon was the car. No one was injured and no one died. He risks 35 years in prison. Why not just take his drivers license and ban him from driving and send the man home instead of 35 years in prison??

because they need him to take up space so they can let out a pedophile.

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You are, apparently, unaware of Arizona's attitude when it comes to law enforcement and criminal justice. Letting out a pedophile is about as likely in Arizona as a Joan Baez concert being a sellout in Montgomery, Alabama.

One time I was driving through Wickenburg, AZ. Aware of how local police operate in small, hick towns in states like AZ, I was going out of my way to obey all speed limits, traffic laws, etc.

I got pulled over. Cop saunters up. Dark glasses, paunch, the whole enchilada. "You passed another car in a school zone. No passing allowed in school zones." What had actually happened was, my car and another car were going along, side by side, same speed, in the two, eastbound lanes on the main drag of Wickenburg, in front of a school. Suddenly, the other car (that was in the lane next to the curb) pulled over and stopped.

That's it.

I said, "Excuse me?" I then pointed out to the officer that what had happened here did not in any way involve my "passing" another car. He replied: "Wasn't there some point in time when the other car slowed to stop, that your car was beside it, but going faster than it was? You were passing that car at that time." I swear to God. We talked a bit more and he finally backed off and did not write me up for this "violation."

When I was in the South in the late sixties, fear was palpable if you were an outsider. Let's hope the judge has just a smidgen of commonsense and dignity.

"Liberty is the right to do what the law permits." Charles de Montesquieu

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It's hard to believe just how full of shit you are....... there is no difference in the South except people are more likely to say hello to you on the street. I've lived and worked all over the country and Denver surprised me the most. KKK rallies on the Capitol steps twice a year, Hitler's birthday and MLK day.

Winslow is a very small town, under 10,000 people, you will see weird shit like that anywhere in the country, probably anywhere in the world. You being the bigot that you are, wouldn't understand that.

One time I was driving through Wickenburg, AZ. Aware of how local police operate in small, hick towns in states like AZ, I was going out of my way to obey all speed limits, traffic laws, etc.

I got pulled over. Cop saunters up. Dark glasses, paunch, the whole enchilada. "You passed another car in a school zone. No passing allowed in school zones." What had actually happened was, my car and another car were going along, side by side, same speed, in the two, eastbound lanes on the main drag of Wickenburg, in front of a school. Suddenly, the other car (that was in the lane next to the curb) pulled over and stopped.

That's it.

I said, "Excuse me?" I then pointed out to the officer that what had happened here did not in any way involve my "passing" another car. He replied: "Wasn't there some point in time when the other car slowed to stop, that your car was beside it, but going faster than it was? You were passing that car at that time." I swear to God. We talked a bit more and he finally backed off and did not write me up for this "violation."

What you need to do when planning to go through Arizona: Don't.

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Bigot. I am not surprised that you would have a problem in a small town, your attitude exudes through my computer screen. He was actually correct, you should have stopped along side the other car, checked for kids running in front of your car, when verified clear.....proceed. The officer's job is to protect children in a school zone(kids are very unpredictable), you, being the bigot that you are, were looking to be stopped by a hick, red neck cop that just wanted to pick on a ultra progressive person as yourself. He let you off when he could have given you a ticket, what's the problem?

One time I was driving through Wickenburg, AZ. Aware of how local police operate in small, hick towns in states like AZ, I was going out of my way to obey all speed limits, traffic laws, etc.

I got pulled over. Cop saunters up. Dark glasses, paunch, the whole enchilada. "You passed another car in a school zone. No passing allowed in school zones." What had actually happened was, my car and another car were going along, side by side, same speed, in the two, eastbound lanes on the main drag of Wickenburg, in front of a school. Suddenly, the other car (that was in the lane next to the curb) pulled over and stopped.

That's it.

I said, "Excuse me?" I then pointed out to the officer that what had happened here did not in any way involve my "passing" another car. He replied: "Wasn't there some point in time when the other car slowed to stop, that your car was beside it, but going faster than it was? You were passing that car at that time." I swear to God. We talked a bit more and he finally backed off and did not write me up for this "violation."

What you need to do when planning to go through Arizona: Don't.

Click to expand...

Bigot. I am not surprised that you would have a problem in a small town, your attitude exudes through my computer screen. He was actually correct, you should have stopped along side the other car, checked for kids running in front of your car, when verified clear.....proceed. The officer's job is to protect children in a school zone(kids are very unpredictable), you, being the bigot that you are, were looking to be stopped by a hick, red neck cop that just wanted to pick on a ultra progressive person as yourself. He let you off when he could have given you a ticket, what's the problem?

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I was in the fast lane. The car to my right stopped very suddenly and zoomed into a parking space. There was a car right behind me. If I had stopped as suddenly as the car on my right, I would have been rear ended. There is no requirement that a driver in my position must stop under these circumstances. There were no school children present at the time - it was a weekend. And even if there had been, there was no crosswalk anywhere near where we were. It was mid-block.

I haven't seen you around this board very much - you new here? If so, you might want to reassess your posting style. You wouldn't want folks getting the impression that you were an obnoxious jerk, now would you?

One time I was driving through Wickenburg, AZ. Aware of how local police operate in small, hick towns in states like AZ, I was going out of my way to obey all speed limits, traffic laws, etc.

I got pulled over. Cop saunters up. Dark glasses, paunch, the whole enchilada. "You passed another car in a school zone. No passing allowed in school zones." What had actually happened was, my car and another car were going along, side by side, same speed, in the two, eastbound lanes on the main drag of Wickenburg, in front of a school. Suddenly, the other car (that was in the lane next to the curb) pulled over and stopped.

That's it.

I said, "Excuse me?" I then pointed out to the officer that what had happened here did not in any way involve my "passing" another car. He replied: "Wasn't there some point in time when the other car slowed to stop, that your car was beside it, but going faster than it was? You were passing that car at that time." I swear to God. We talked a bit more and he finally backed off and did not write me up for this "violation."

What you need to do when planning to go through Arizona: Don't.

Click to expand...

Bigot. I am not surprised that you would have a problem in a small town, your attitude exudes through my computer screen. He was actually correct, you should have stopped along side the other car, checked for kids running in front of your car, when verified clear.....proceed. The officer's job is to protect children in a school zone(kids are very unpredictable), you, being the bigot that you are, were looking to be stopped by a hick, red neck cop that just wanted to pick on a ultra progressive person as yourself. He let you off when he could have given you a ticket, what's the problem?

Click to expand...

I was in the fast lane. The car to my right stopped very suddenly and zoomed into a parking space. There was a car right behind me. If I had stopped as suddenly as the car on my right, I would have been rear ended. There is no requirement that a driver in my position must stop under these circumstances. There were no school children present at the time - it was a weekend. And even if there had been, there was no crosswalk anywhere near where we were. It was mid-block.

I haven't seen you around this board very much - you new here? If so, you might want to reassess your posting style. You wouldn't want folks getting the impression that you were an obnoxious jerk, now would you?

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You aren't big on details are you Georgy........ take a look at the year I joined this board, there aren't many that have been here longer than I have. I'm curious, what type of glasses should he have been wearing, let's say if he wasn't in a "Hick" town? I find it funny that you live in one of the biggest cesspools on the planet and you are so quick to criticize Arizona towns.

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